Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American comedian, radio personality, television host, actor, podcaster and director. He hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by Guinness World Records in 2011.[2]

Carolla co-hosted the syndicated radio call-in program Loveline from 1995 to 2005 as well as the show's television incarnation on MTV from 1996 to 2000. He was the co-host and co-creator of the television program The Man Show (1999–2004), and the co-creator and a regular performer on the television show Crank Yankers (2002–2007). He hosted The Adam Carolla Project, a home improvement television program which aired on TLC in 2005 and The Car Show on Speed TV[3] in 2011.

Adam Carolla was born in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.[5][6] His father, Jim Carolla, was a psychologist of Italian heritage, and his mother, Kris (née McCall), was of Irish heritage.[5][7] The two separated when Adam was young.[8] Carolla was not given a middle name by his parents; on his driver's license application he listed his middle name as "Lakers" as a joke. The application was processed without notice, and the name still appears as Adam Lakers Carolla to this day.[9][10] His maternal step-grandfather was screenwriter László Görög, who wrote The Mole People.[11]

Adam was raised in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Colfax Elementary School, Walter Reed Junior High, and North Hollywood High School. Carolla did not receive his high school diploma until years later as it was held by the school until a library fine was paid.[12] Carolla can be seen paying off the book and receiving his diploma in an episode of his 2005 television show, The Adam Carolla Project.[13]

During his earlier years, Carolla played Pop Warnerfootball for seven years; he later suggested that being involved in sports saved him from a chaotic home life.[14] During his senior year at North Hollywood High School, Carolla distinguished himself in football. In December 1981, he was named to the First Team Offensive Line, Central Valley League, one of 8 leagues at the time in the LA City Section of the California Interscholastic Federation.[15]

In 1994, Carolla volunteered his services as a boxing trainer to prepare Jimmy Kimmel for a bout being staged by KROQ-FM's morning radio program Kevin and Bean.[21] Kimmel was a regular on the show as "Jimmy the Sports Guy" and he was set to fight another KROQ personality in a boxing exhibition which was being billed as the "Bleeda in Reseda."[22] Carolla parlayed this opportunity into a long-running friendship and business partnership with Kimmel as well as a recurring role on Kevin and Bean as cranky woodshop teacher, Mr. Birchum.[23]

While the format of the program was primarily a call-in show where listeners would ask questions about sex and relationships, Carolla would often spend much of the show ranting about various topics, from fart jokes to extended parodies of radio morning shows, including mocking the format's penchant for useless and repetitive weather and traffic reports. In contrast to the reserved, thoughtful Pinsky, Carolla served as the loud, funny side of the show. Carolla's character was described by one reviewer as "a toned-down version of Howard Stern minus the huge ego".[25] On September 25, 2001 Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel both had filled in for Howard Stern's head writer Jackie Martling after Martling's departure from the show in March 2001. Carolla had mentioned in various interviews and on his podcast that he was offered the job to replace Jackie Martling, but turned it down primarily due to Stern's show being located in New York as well as his commitment to Loveline.

Carolla started a daily podcast on February 23, 2009, at his personal website, which would evolve into the ACE Broadcasting Network. The first Adam Carolla podcast was downloaded more than 250,000 times in the initial 24 hours, and by the third podcast, it was the number one podcast on iTunes in both the U.S. and Canada.[29] During the debut week, the Adam Carolla podcast recorded 1.6 million downloads. In the second week it recorded 2.4 million downloads. By the fourth episode of the second week, featuring former Adam Carolla Show sidekick Dave Dameshek, the show was downloaded more than 500,000 times.[30] Adam stated that bandwidth cost more than $9,000 a month as of May 2009.[31]

At the end of 2009, The Adam Carolla Podcast was selected by iTunes for its end-of-the-year awards as the Best Audio Podcast of 2009.[32] On May 18, 2011, Adam announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that The Adam Carolla Show has taken the Guinness World Record for the most downloaded podcast ever from Ricky Gervais[2][2] after receiving 59,574,843 unique downloads from March 2009 to March 16, 2011.[33]

In a case that has been referred to as patent trolling, patent holding company Personal Audio is currently suing, among others, Adam Carolla,[34] claiming a patent on "an audio program and message distribution system in which a host system organizes and transmits program segments to client subscriber locations".[35]

After co-hosting (with Dr. Drew) a television version of Loveline on MTV during the late 90s, Carolla began his first original television series with The Man Show, along with partner and close friend Jimmy Kimmel, on Comedy Central from 1999 to 2003. He left The Man Show at the same time as Kimmel, after having been reportedly offered $50,000 per episode to stay on. Carolla has continued his work with Kimmel as a writer and guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He also appeared on an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast around this time.

Carolla and partner Daniel Kellison are the heads of Jackhole Productions. The two created the television show Crank Yankers for Comedy Central, which revived the Mr. Birchum character. (The show premiered in 2002 on Comedy Central and returned to MTV2 on February 9, 2007, running again until March 30, 2007. The show screened in Australia on SBS Television and The Comedy Channel between 2003 and 2008.)

Also in 2005, Carolla was featured in a home remodeling program called The Adam Carolla Project wherein he and a crew of old friends renovated his childhood home. The 13 episodes aired on the cable channel TLC (The Learning Channel) from October through December 2005. The house was then sold for 1.2 million dollars.[36][37]

On the February 18, 2008 broadcast of his radio show, Carolla announced that he would be one of the contestants on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Later in the broadcast, it was revealed to Adam that his partner would be Julianne Hough.[38] He was voted off on the April 8, 2008 episode after his performance of the Paso Doble, after incorporating a demonstration of unicycle riding in his dance routine.

On February 21, 2009, a day after his Los Angeles-based morning radio show was canceled — as part of a format change at KLSX-FM — CBS ordered a comedy pilot starring the actor/comedian. Ace in the Hole was to star Carolla as a husband and father who works as a driving instructor. Carolla created and wrote the pilot with Kevin Hench ("Jimmy Kimmel Live!").[41] Carolla stated that Pamela Adlon was to play his wife and Windell Middlebrooks of the Miller High Life commercial fame will play his best friend. During his March 30, 2009, podcast, Carolla briefly described the show as being "All in the Family, essentially", with Carolla playing a similar role to that of Archie Bunker. On the July 23, 2009, episode of the Adam Carolla Podcast, Carolla announced that CBS was not picking up the pilot for the 2009 season, "in any way, shape or form."

On October 22, 2009, it was reported in Variety that Carolla had struck a deal with NBC to produce a half-hour pilot for a sitcom. The report was later confirmed on January 4, 2010, and was the first comedy pilot ordered by NBC for the season.[42] The untitled project, written by Carolla and Kevin Hench, was a single-camera endeavor that starred Carolla as a contractor and father who attempts to rebuild his life after his wife leaves him.[43][44] Carolla was set to executive produce the NBC project along with frequent collaborators Kimmel and Hench, as well as his agent James "Babydoll" Dixon, Jon Pollack from 30 Rock, Gail Berman, Daniel Kellison, and Lloyd Braun. Universal Media Studios, BermanBraun, and Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel's own Jackhole Industries.[43][44]

On the February 13, 2010 episode of Carolla's CarCast podcast, he broke the news that The History Channel had picked up Top Gear US, which NBC had decided against in 2008.[45] On the March 26, 2010, episode of CarCast, Carolla said that he would not be co-hosting Top Gear US because of scheduling conflicts with his NBC sitcom project. In June 2010, Carolla said that his NBC pilot had not been picked up and was now "dead."[46]

Premiering on February 19, 2012, Carolla was also one of the contestants in the 12th season of NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice. He was fired in Week 4, because Mr. Trump perceived that Carolla did not utilize Andretti's car background during a Buick presentation, even though it was clear that Andretti did not like public speaking.

Carolla's The Car Show debuted on Speed TV July 13, 2011. Appearing Wednesdays at 10 pm Eastern, it featured Carolla as the host, along with Dan Neil, John Salley, and Matt Farah. It had a format similar to Top Gear, mixing car reviews, tests and humor. The show was initially met with largely positive reviews from car enthusiasts and comedy fans. Talk show host and comedian Jay Leno called The Car Show, "...a lot of fun."[47] The Car Show was cancelled after one season, after undergoing format changes due to low ratings, as Carolla mentioned on his podcast January 13, 2012.

Catch a Contractor is a non-scripted, original series on Spike, hosted by Adam Carolla along with "no-nonsense contractor" Skip Bedell and his wife, investigator Alison Bedell. Together they expose crooked contractors and seek retribution for wronged homeowners.[48]

The show premiered on March 9, 2014, to 1.2 million viewers, the largest audience for a series debut on Spike since Coal in March 2011.[49]

In July 2013, Carolla used crowdfunding for Road Hard; a film he directed and starred in, about the lives of aging road comics. Adam confirmed through a press conference that the film will co-star David Alan Grier, Illeana Douglas, Diane Farr, and Larry Miller.[57] It had limited theatrical release in the United States. It is interesting to note that several minutes of the credits are devoted to listing the names of those who helped crowdfund the movie.

Carolla and Drew Pinsky co-wrote (with Marshall Fine) the self-help book The Dr. Drew and Adam Book: A Survival Guide to Life and Love, published in 1998.[58] The book is a compilation of some of the advice the pair compiled while producing Loveline.[59]

In November 2010, Carolla's In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks... And Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy was published by Crown Archetype and debuted at number eight on the New York Times' Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction on November 21, 2010.[60] The book was compiled from rants Carolla had delivered on his radio show and podcast along with some new material and was dictated to and ghost-written by Mike Lynch.[61]

Carolla published a short, illustrated e-book entitled Rich Man, Poor Man in January 2012. The book details some similarities in the experiences of the very rich and the very poor which are not shared by the middle class.[62] The book was illustrated by Michael Narren.[63]

Carolla's book Not Taco Bell Material was published by Crown Archetype on June 12, 2012.[64] It climbed the New York Times bestseller list and received widespread praise for its satirical humor and honest, self-deprecating style.

In President Me: The America That's in My Head, Carolla presents the comedian's fantasy of the United States with him at the helm.[65] When asked in separate interviews, both before and after the book's release, about whether the "if-I-were-king" critique of America was a serious piece, he said it's both: "Well, there's a lot of jokes in it, but you know, it's like... Well, if you have a fat friend you may make a lot of fat jokes about your fat friend, but he's still fat".[66][67]

Carolla's latest book is Daddy, Stop Talking!: And Other Things My Kids Want but won't be Getting, in which he uses the meme of modern parenting as a general theme for his humorous insights into modern life. Carolla spells out what adults must do if they don’t want to have to support their kids forever. Using his own childhood as a cautionary tale, and touting the pitfalls of the kind of helicopter parenting so pervasive today.

Carolla has occasionally made generalizations about various groups, leading to criticism. For example, in a late-2003 Loveline episode, Carolla said that Hawaiians are "dumb," "in-bred," "retarded, " people who are among the "dumbest people we have." The comments were met with anger in Hawaii and resulted in Loveline's cancellation on Hawaiian affiliate KPOI.[68]

In 2010, Carolla posed for the NOH8 campaign.[72][73] In August 2011, Carolla released a podcast where he mocked a petition to the producers of Sesame Street that demanded Bert and Ernie get married on air. He said on air that gay activists should "[j]ust get married, and please shut up" and that "Y.U.C.K." would be more memorable acronym than LGBT, and referring to transgender people he asked: "When did we start giving a shit about these people?"[74]

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation characterized the previous remarks by Carolla as offensive, including an assertion that "all things being equal," heterosexual parents make better parents than homosexual parents. Carolla responded: "I'm sorry my comments were hurtful. I'm a comedian, not a politician."[75][76] GLAAD called the apology "empty."[77][78][79]

In June 2012, Carolla became the target of charges of sexism due to his remarks during an interview published in the New York Post:[80]

The lesson you learned from a sexual harassment seminar was "Don't hire chicks." Do you hate working with women?

No. But they make you hire a certain number of chicks, and they're always the least funny on the writing staff. The reason why you know more funny dudes than funny chicks is that dudes are funnier than chicks. If my daughter has a mediocre sense of humor, I'm just gonna tell her, "Be a staff writer for a sitcom. Because they'll have to hire you, they can't really fire you, and you don't have to produce that much. It'll be awesome."The "are women funny" debate has grown very contentious. You're not worried about reactions to this?
I don't care. When you're picking a basketball team, you'll take the brother over the guy with the yarmulke. Why? Because you're playing the odds. When it comes to comedy, of course there's Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Kathy Griffin — super-funny chicks. But if you're playing the odds? No. If Joy Behar or Sherri Shepherd was a dude, they'd be off TV. They're not funny enough for dudes. What if Roseanne Barr was a dude? Think we'd know who she was? Honestly.

Despite his clarifications, Carolla's comments were reported as Women Aren't Funny,[81][82][83] resulted viral criticism from a variety of individuals concerning the perceived innate sexism underlying these statements.[84] Carolla himself criticized the viral reports as overly simplistic and misleading.[85]

On September 28, 2002, Carolla married Lynette Paradise. Lynette gave birth to their first children, twins Natalia and Santino "Sonny" Richard Carolla on June 7, 2006.[86] On The Adam Carolla Show, Adam repeatedly mentioned the birth was originally scheduled for June 6, but that he and Lynette decided to push it back one day as to avoid the symbolic 666 (06–06–06).

Carolla is a part owner of Amalfi, an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles.[87]

Carolla won the 2013 Pro/Celebrity Race as a professional and the 2012 Pro/Celebrity Race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as an amateur.[88] The race was run on April 14, 2012 and was broadcast on Speed TV.[89] In 2013, Carolla again competed in the Toyota Grand Prix race, this time he raced as a pro-driver. Carolla finished first in the Pro category in the 2013 race[90] Carolla has previously participated in the race in 2010 and 2003.[91][92] He finished ninth among 19 racers (fifth among the ten celebrities) in 2010[91] despite being regarded as a pre-race favorite.[92] He is also a serious automobile collector with over 20 cars. His collection includes several Lamborghinis from the 1960s and early 1970s, including two Miuras (of 764 examples ever produced), one of which he has loaned to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, two 400GT 2+2s (of 247 units produced) and a 1965 350GT (one of 135 built). At least one Ferrari and Aston Martin and several vintage race cars round out the collection.[93]

Carolla conceived the fortified wine cocktail 'Mangria' (a pun on sangria), which later became commercialized with the Napa Valley-based Patio Wine Company as a partner.

Regarding his religious beliefs, Carolla has stated, "I am not agnostic. I am atheist. I don't think there is no God; I know there's no God. I know there's no God the same way I know many other laws in our universe. I know there's no God and I know most of the world knows that as well. They just won't admit it because there's another thing they know: they know they're going to die, and it freaks them out. So most people don't have the courage to admit there's no God and they know it. They feel it. They try to suppress it. And if you bring it up they get angry because it freaks them out."[94][95]

Regarding his political views, Carolla has stated, "I guess I would be Republican, in the sense that I want a secure border, I'm not into the welfare state, I'm not into all those freebie lunch programs. It just kind of demeans people." He goes on to state, however, that he is also in favor of typically liberal causes such as the legalization of marijuana and some progressive causes such as "... [being] against semi-automatic and automatic weapons. I'm not an NRA guy by any stretch of the imagination. I'd like alternative energy to be explored and electric cars to be used, but I want them to be powered by nuclear power plants."[96] (He is a member of the advisory board of the Marijuana Policy Project.)[1] Elsewhere, he has stated, "My feeling is this whole country is founded on the principle of 'If you are not hurting anyone, and you're not fucking with someone else's shit, and you are paying your taxes, you should be able to just do what you want to do.' It's the freedom and the independence."[97] In an interview with Reason TV, Carolla described his views as libertarian.[98]

^Garcia, Michelle (15 August 2011). "Adam Carollas Sorry for AntiTrans Rant". Advocate.com. Retrieved 5 September 2012. In 2010, the same year he posed for the No H8 campaign (pictured), Carolla said he believes that "a mom and a dad is better than two dads or two moms."